Meaning of 头发
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- hair (on the head)
How to use 头发
头发 is the everyday word for the hair on your head, used with 长 (cháng, long), 短 (duǎn, short), 剪 (jiǎn, to cut) and 洗 (xǐ, to wash). It is not used for body hair or animal fur. Example: 我想剪头发。(Wǒ xiǎng jiǎn tóufa.) I want to get a haircut.
头 (tóu) means head and 发 (fa) here means hair, so 头发 is simply the hair that grows on your head. Picture the word as a label: head plus hair.
Common mistake: Learners often say fā with the first tone, as in 发现 (fāxiàn), but in 头发 the 发 is fà in isolation and usually light in speech: tóufa. In traditional script the hair 髮 and the send-out 發 are different characters, so do not write 頭發.
头发 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
头 tóu · head · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
发 fā · to send out · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Related words
Words that share a character with 头发.
| 发现 | fāxiàn | to notice; to become aware of; to discover; to find; to detect |
| 出发 | chūfā | to set off; to start (on a journey); (fig.) to proceed from (a particular standpoint or ba |
| 里头 | lǐtou | inside; interior |
| 点头 | diǎntóu | to nod |
| 发生 | fāshēng | to happen; to occur; to take place; to arise (e.g. 發生問題|发生问题[fa1 sheng1 wen4 ti2] "a probl |
| 石头 | shítou | stone |
| 发展 | fāzhǎn | development; growth |
| 发出 | fāchū | to issue (an order, decree etc); to send out; to dispatch; to produce (a sound); to let ou |
| 发明 | fāmíng | to invent; an invention |
| 沙发 | shāfā | (loanword) sofa (CL:條|条[tiao2],張|张[zhang1]); (Internet slang) first reply to a forum post |
| 发表 | fābiǎo | to issue; to publish |
| 发动 | fādòng | to start; to launch |
Questions about 头发
What does 头发 mean?
头发 (tóufa) means "hair (on the head)" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 头发?
头发 is made of 2 characters: 头 (5 strokes), 发 (5 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 头发 an HSK word?
Yes. 头发 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 头发 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 头发 is written 頭髮.
What is the measure word for 头发?
Use 根 (gēn) for a single strand, as in 一根头发 (yì gēn tóufa), one hair. For a whole head of hair you can say 一头头发 or just talk about 头发 without a measure word.
How do I say body hair or fur instead of head hair?
Use 毛 (máo) for body hair and animal fur, for example 猫毛 (māo máo), cat hair. 头发 is only for the hair on a person's head.